Why Does the Impact of Human Activity on the Environment Vary over Time and Space?

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Why does the impact of human activity on the environment vary over time and space? Human activity has had a large impact on the environment over the last many hundred years; this has changed and become more prevalent as we enter the 21st century. The impact also varies depending on where it occurs different countries may have a greater impact or may be working harder in order to limit their impact; MEDC’s and LEDC’s will have different impacts and different methods of prevention due to their economic and political situations. Populations in the UK have been around for thousands of years dating right back to the Mesolithic era around 12000-6000 BP, due to the small size in the population and their lack of knowledge, just being hunter-gatherers they has little impact on the environment, this changes however as the population increase and more is discovered, the Neolithic era saw the first farmers appear and along with this the beginning of the clearance of the wild-wood, by 2500 BP almost half of the wild-wood had been cleared as farming technology developed and new fort towns had to be supported. The environment was gradually being degraded, but through the next 2015 years the impact was going to dramatically increase and rapidly speed up until we get to the present day where the earth is in major danger. Major environmental damage has occurred in the UK ever since the Roman invasion and their period of settlement in the period 0-400 AD, they began with the construction of paved roads and cities which started the fragmentation of the British countryside, during this period there was also major international trade so the Romans needed many ships to transport goods. This will have meant the further chopping down of trees to manufacture the ships. By 1086 only a third of the wild-wood remained due the use of timber as a construction material and for fuel, this was

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